Help me keep the PCs in a Heroes-esque supers game working together

[RangerWickett]

I could use some brainstorming help.

I'm planning on starting up a modern supers game, but not a superhero game. Rather, I want something like, um, a well-written version of Heroes. However, I'm looking for a bevvy of ideas on how to keep the group together.

What I have planned so far is a sort of Cthulhu mythos/Grimm's fairy tales hybrid with a coating of biopunk superhumanism. Basically, each PC one way or another is exposed to a retrovirus that grants them the ability to tap into a normally dormant extradimensional energy field, which is technobabble for, "They're some of the first people with superpowers in the modern day."

But the retrovirus was adapted from (presumably) long dead creatures who possessed seemingly magical powers because they too could tap into this energy field. Some researchers at the Emory University genetics lab in Atlanta, while investigating a cryptozoological entity (i.e., that "fake bigfoot" found in Georgia last year), stumbled across a way to grant people the power to the do the same.

I have a lot of ideas for events that will crop up, but I guess what I'm lacking is a main plot arc to tie everything together. I'm thinking of having a reporter for a local indie newspaper track them each down and get them in touch with each other as part of researching an article on strange goings-on in Atlanta (and I'll have each player come up with some mildly public manifestation of their power that could attract a reporter's attention). But I'm trying to think up reasons for them to work together.

I could do the easy thing and say, "You're all already friends/coworkers/relatives," or the cliched, "The government is trying to capture you all," or "Doctor Amazing wants to train you how to use your powers so you can fight crime." But I want to have a set-up that isn't so common in comics, and that gives the PCs a chance to grate on each other and have some in-fighting. I trust my players enough that I can do this without ruining their fun, as long as I give them a common reason to work together.

[hopeless]

What if this retrovirus only works for certain people meaning that those that do gain these abilities are being sought out by those that don;t for the purposes of finding out how they can do what they can do.

Say they've been the recipient of a flu vaccine or are merely descendants of a member of an exploration team that found your crypto creature and were unknowingly infected with the effects happening after they returned and left to live their normal lives...

Perhaps you have villainous descendants of these people who are aware of what they can do or even survivors of these creatures who are being hunted for their abilities or are seeking to gain the upper hand in their war with the virus called humanity...

Perhaps you should suggest an opening scene where your players are all present say something happens and they're forced to act or have their abilities manifest like one is locked in a burning room and teleports or phases through the door in a panic trying to escape another might be being targetted by some mysterious figure in shadow and manages to escape when he targets someone else by mistake...

How do you want to handle this campaign or game of yours do you have preconceived visions of where you want your series to lead to?

[Herobizkit]

Have the PC's obtain their powers,and then give each PC a "buddy". When the PC and "buddy" are in close proximity, they can augment each other's powers or generate new ones. The "buddy" can (and should be) another PC. Depending on the size of your PC base, maybe the group of them together can produce something miraculous and world-changing, or perhaps their powers don't work at ALL unless they're in close proximity to each other...

If you're going all Cthulu, perhaps each of the PC's receives their powers from an otherworld/ancient entity that inhabits their bodies. These entities could all part of the same mythos (all Asgardian or Olympian, say) and are using the PC's to do THEIR bidding. What's more, these entities are self-aware and chat regularly with each other and the PC's. (I stole the idea from the Persona series of games on the PS2)

Just imagine that, in D&D, every PC had an intelligent weapon, and each weapon was working towards a common goal... something like that.

And by the by, I completely enjoyed season 1 and 2 of Heroes... didn't see anything wrong with the writing.

[RangerWickett]

Did you watch Season 3?

[TarionzCousin]

Originally Posted by Herobizkit

Have the PC's obtain their powers,and then give each PC a "buddy". When the PC and "buddy" are in close proximity, they can augment each other's powers or generate new ones. The "buddy" can (and should be) another PC. Depending on the size of your PC base, maybe the group of them together can produce something miraculous and world-changing, or perhaps their powers don't work at ALL unless they're in close proximity to each other... .

Don't take their powers away. Players hate that.

Instead, give them horrible side effects if they don't work together: painful mutations, increasing chance of failure, culminating in collapsing unconscious and potentially helpless in front of the enemy combatants.

[Angellis_ater]

Honestly? Steal the one really good reason for sticking together Heroes produced (and yeah, the writing went haywire with Heroes - seems Kring didn't know where to go): Serial Hero-Eater. Make them targets. Fear and danger drives people to either self-implode or co-operate. It's natural.

Introduce a Sylar, one which likes a challenge. Have him devour (and I mean devour, not the fiddly crap Gabriel Gray does) a bunch of heroes and it hitting the news. Make sure his Modus Operandi is well-known (terrorizing his victims?) and start hitting the players up with "pre-meal" tactics. Perhaps your "Sylar" is tired of eating single goons and to "up his ante" he is driving them together in the hopes of producing a true challenge.

For more fun. Make him a Professor at Emory University, thus giving him knowledge of who has these potential powers. Want to make it even MORE fun? Have him appear as a mentor, someone who wants to help them as part of his research. That way, your Sylar manipulates the entire scenario for his own benefits, while giving the group reason to work together and get to know eachother.

[Herobizkit]

Originally Posted by RangerWickett

Did you watch Season 3?

Actually, I haven't. I have heard buzz that the writing in Heroes went left field. I was disappointed that Season 2 was so short, and assumed that the 'poor writing' cries were a result of that. Now I am afeared to see Season 3.

[am181d]

Thinking as I type...

You may want to explore separate motivations: one needs money, one craves fame, one has experienced a personal tragedy, etc. In my experience, if each character has something at stake that's rooted in their character background, it's going to provide the richest possible campaign. It also means that you have lots of different plot hooks to work together instead of just one.

If you do go that way, there is one piece of inspiration you can take from Heroes: look for ways that you can tie character back stories together in surprising ways. It doesn't have to be as simple as "they're brothers." But if one character wants revenge on a particular organization, maybe another character worked there years ago. If one character writes a column for a newspaper, maybe another reads it religiously.

Or, to put it another way, imagine that each character has a piece of paper that says "I want to do X" with a list of 5-10 steps they might take to help them achieve X. Item 3 on Player 1's list may be Item 4 on Player 4's list and Item 3 on Player 4's list may be Item 7 on Player 3's list.

Those lists could be conceptual, or you could work with players to come up with concrete lists. In my experience, modern day games need some level of pre-work along these lines, as they tend to be more open ended then fantasy quest games, but you may have something different in mind...

[GSHamster]

Maybe the original scientist at Emory University was very rich, and has recently passed away. In his will, because of his guilt at what he did, he bequeaths large sums of money to the subjects, but there are conditions.

Maybe this scientist was murdered, and there are indications that the murderer will come after the PCs.

Basically, you have the executors of the estate gather a variety of people who don't know each other in the same room to hear the reading of the Will. It makes how the group meets into the same vein as the rest of the story.

[fba827]

Kind of the idea of the reporter, but more anonymous.

They each received a letter.
It could have been threatening "Go to place X and ask around about Y or else we'll kill your family"
It could have been exposing "I know about your secret. to make sure no one else knows, go to place X and wait for instructions from a person Y (the description being that of another as-cluseless PC who is there)"
It could have seemed innocent "I heard you're an expert in your field. There is a big discovery at X, if you can meet my team there, there will be a big commision for you."
And so on...

Maybe each person got a different themed letter but they were all from the same person. But the PCs never meet the person who sent it... it remains "the mysterious organization" (until perhaps much much later)

[roguerouge]

Hostages. Have the government be forcing them to work special ops. As the PCs rise in level, they start figuring out how to research where their loved ones are being held on the sly. Then, make it so that they need each other to do the rescues and that they need each other to get some pay back. Then, once all that is done... they can create a Brave New World together or apart or have their actions create one for them.

Very rail-roady, but it might work for a set of players that like revenge scenarios against Rat Bastard DM set-ups.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by herobizkit

depending on the size of your pc base, maybe the group of them together can produce something miraculous and world-changing ...

captain planet!

[Wolfwood2]

Originally Posted by RangerWickett

I could do the easy thing and say, "You're all already friends/coworkers/relatives," or the cliched, "The government is trying to capture you all," or "Doctor Amazing wants to train you how to use your powers so you can fight crime." But I want to have a set-up that isn't so common in comics, and that gives the PCs a chance to grate on each other and have some in-fighting. I trust my players enough that I can do this without ruining their fun, as long as I give them a common reason to work together.

You could make it their problem and tell them to come up with a reason they're all working together. I think players understand that you're not going to run a separate game for each PC. You could just provide an IC introduction and then tell them out of game that their PCs better darn well decide to work together.

[Stormborn]

The retrovirus contains fragments of these anceint entities. The PCs are all infected with pieces of the same being. It doesnt think like us. They do not have a collective consciousness or anything, but they feel like they should work together. At first they don't know why, or come up with thier own rationalizations, and later when they start asking "why am I doing this" they find they simply can't leave. They get on each other's nerves, they develop bonds and conflicts, but are compeled to stay in touch with each other, to work togther to occasionally do inexplicable things. They are addicted to one another's presence, or at the very least communication. Addicted in the sense that they have developed a biochemical dependence on each other. The part of them that is the ancient entity resonates with the pieces of itself in the others, making them sick or confused if they part company for long periods of time. Increasingly shorter periods of time.

The entity has some ancient grudges, instictual likes and dislikes, that puts the PCs in conflict with other similarly infected groups. At some point they should find a fully intigrated group, one that does think and act with a single mind. They come into contact with others that they feel they should like, or get along with, but for some reason keep rubbing each other the wrong way. Some people that they don't like, or wouldn't, they feel compleled to help.

Explain to the players that there is a story reason for them to work together, or at least feel like they should, that will occasionally involve you telling them how they react to certain things, perhaps allowing some kind of Will save or similar mechanism if they try to fight it or go against the group or their instincts. React to the player's natural interaction to perhaps explain sub functions of the entitiy, its need to belong/to fight/to think rationally/etc.

Now, this may get a little horrific and may be an altogether different direction that you meant to go, but I think it would be very intersting to see it play out, and fun for the players to find out whats happening to them as it goes along.

[Ruined]

I always wanted to do something like this for a hero game, but the execution is tricky. Since you have a hand in how the heroes get their powers, maybe use some of the 'Hand of Fate' tricks that pull the PCs together in the same spot with a forced revelation of their powers. "Ah look, you all wind up in this loft in NYC."

I was using a government project that genetically modified the PCs before birth, but the project was canned and abandoned. The PCs were drawn there and then they have both the mystery of finding out the common history of their powers plus the shared goal of running from the government that wants to capture and examine them.

The Rising Stars comic by J.Michael Stracynski could be a great inspiration if you haven't read it.

Also, bear in mind that one of the strengths of first-season Heroes was the interaction of characters in pairs or occasionally trios. The finale was really the only time that you had a full compliment of pivotal characters. Unless you're a fan of lone wolf style characters, that rarely happens in group oriented games.

Good luck!

[Ydars]

I think the idea of a retrovirus is interesting and you can use the fact it is a virus to keep everyone together.

I would make the retrovirus have the following properties;

1) fatal to humans if not treated.

2) sensitive to a form of radiation known as Theta rays.

3) semi-sentient (though the PCs will not realise this for a long time).

I would start this campaign with the premise that the PCs have superpowers granted by the virus but that they have to return to a home-base every night for theta ray treatment or else they risk the virus a) infecting other humans and b) killing the PCs.

Now here is the thing that keeps the PCs together; the scientist who discovers the virus builds them a base that is fitted with theta ray emitters. The PCs have to sleep here to get 8 hours treatment (while they sleep) or else they will begin to experience nasty symptoms. I would make the base mobile; perhaps on a largish yacht and explain that this is so that the theta rays don't affect anyone else in the vicinity since such radiation is normally harmful to humans. Now the base can move with the campaign and you have an excuse to put the PCs in hazard.

For a campaign arc, I would do the following; the PCs enemy is their own unconscious mind directed by the retrovirus. The virus has evolved to spread and taps into the host mind, but can only gain control when they are asleep. The retrovirus then uses the host's mind to create a semi-sentient energy beast that acts to destroy those who oppose the virus and its spread. However, it can't harm the base because the base is emitting lots of theta radiation that would destroy the beast in an instant.

I would play this as if there is someone else "a mastermind", also with super-powers, stalking the party and trying to kill or hinderthem. For example, the scientist who helped them build the base is killed and several random people infected. Since these people have no theta treatment they will slowly go mad and infect other people and their super-powers will make them a menace. So you could have the PCs trying to track down and defeat these rogue super-monsters as the first part of your arc.

Yet the PCs own minds will oppose them when they are asleep. You could also have an archeologist who discovers mysterious tablets that relate the fall of the last civilisation infected by this virus. The virus does not want its secrets uncovered and so instinctively it reacts to destroy this man before he can decode the tablets. So now the PCs are trying to protect this man, but from themselves.................

If played right, you could keep the PCs guessing for a long time, as long as you keep them distracted with the consequences of their own unconscious actions. Most of the time, you should just hint that strange things are happening around the world that look like natural disasters etc

Atmosphere is obviously key to this type of campaign.

[RangerWickett]

Some great ideas here. I'll say more when it's not 3 in the morning.

[Donovan Morningfire]

One thought is to give the PCs a common "benefactor," in that this is someone who can provide a certain benefit that the individual PC wants, but only by doing things for this benefactor. A good example of this kind of set-up would be the current Thunderbolts line-up in the Marvel Universe as run by Norman Osborn. It's pretty much a bunch of loner-type PCs that are working together for various reasons, some noble (honestly seeking to redemption), some not (one member simply doing this so they get a couple days a month to do whatever they want unsupervised and without legal ramifications). The PCs don't have to like the guy, but so long as he comes through on his end of the 'bargain' on a fairly routine basis, it might be in the PCs interest to play along.

[Mathew_Freeman]

Originally Posted by Herobizkit

Have the PC's obtain their powers,and then give each PC a "buddy". When the PC and "buddy" are in close proximity, they can augment each other's powers or generate new ones. The "buddy" can (and should be) another PC. Depending on the size of your PC base, maybe the group of them together can produce something miraculous and world-changing, or perhaps their powers don't work at ALL unless they're in close proximity to each other...

Never mind Captain Planet, have you been reading Freakangels by Warren Ellis?

[Mallus]

Originally Posted by RangerWickett

But I'm trying to think up reasons for them to work together.

Here's what I would do: give the players the basic set-up, let them create as diverse a group of characters as they want, and then make it their job to create --and maintain-- the reason they all work together. The aggregate intelligence and creativity of your players probably exceeds you're own, so use it!

(sorry if this is more meta than you were looking for, but I swear it's sound advice)